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John Thomas Higgins of Mooresville passed away on July 31 at Serenity House. He was 80 years old. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Milton Higgins of Burnsville, NC and was preceded in death by sisters Martha and Barbara and brother Milton. After working at several North Carolina newspapers, among them Asheville, Durham and Winston-Salem, Higgins joined the Charlotte Observer in 1964 and became the motorsports and outdoors editor. He remained with the Observer until his retirement in 1997. He established himself as one of the most prolific, highly regarded and awarded journalists to cover NASCAR. He was the first to cover the entire NASCAR Winston Cup season. He has received numerous awards from the National Motorsports Press Association, among them the George Cunningham Award as Writer of the Year. He has also been presented with the Henry McLemore Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contributions to Motorsports. Among many other honors he was presented the NASCAR Award of Excellence and, most recently, the Squier Hall Award for Media Excellence, recognition offered by the NASCAR Hall of Fame. He is survived by son Chip Higgins of Houston, daughter Heather Higgins of Mooresville, nephews Milt Higgins of Burnsville and John Hensley of Tulsa, nieces Joy Hurst Pinto of Gold Hill and Audrey Kates and Andrea Moore of Burnsville. Memorial services were held in Charlotte on Aug. 18 and Mooresville on Aug. 26.

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